November 24, 2003

Cotton Gin Port: A Frontier Settlement on the Upper Tombigbee
by James L. Cummins

A new book titled Cotton Gin Port: A Frontier Settlement on the Upper Tombigbee has recently been released. It is by Jack D. Elliott, Jr. and Mary Ann Wells. Judy Leech Dobbs has done an excellent review of the book. Below is a summary of her review.

Although the town of Cotton Gin Port no longer exists on Tombigbee River, long silent are the voices of the prehistoric Indian settlers, the Spanish conquistadors, the British trading furs and other goods, French explorers and the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek whose journeys brought them to the lush forests and fields of the Tombigbee River basin in the northeastern corner of Mississippi. Little physical evidence of their presence or of the settlement at Cotton Gin Port remains today. Gaines Trace, the once dusty roadbed that forever changes an obscure river crossing into a town named Cotton Gin Port, is overgrown with vine.

What makes the story of Cotton Gin Port so riveting and unique? The authors of the new book suggest that its story best sums up the American frontier experience, and that Cotton Gin's history and the colorful cast of characters who populated the town combine to make it worth remembering. While records survive from the period when Cotton Gin Port was a bustling center of commerce and trade, the plethora of folktales, myths and legends recounting the town's glory days is what truly fascinates the listener and turns everyday folks into would-be historians who simply will not let the memories of a special place and time die.

Arch Dalrymple III, who has extensively researched his family's history and gathered information about the region, presents the idea of a joint effort to research and write the book on the history of Cotton Gin Port to Elbert Hilliard, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the secretary of the Mississippi Historical Society concurs with Dalrymple, and together they accept the challenge. Jack D. Elliott, Jr., the Department's historical archaeologist, and Mary Ann Wells, a writer and historian, took the materials gathered and drafted a manuscript which includes the prehistoric part of the Cotton Gin Port story dating from 9000 B.C. Pulling together all the research Dr. John Ray Skates, Jr. and his wife, Craig, edit the manuscript. A generous grant from the Dalrymple Family Foundation underwrites the project and Cotton Gin Port: A Frontier Settlement on the Upper Tombigbee is the result.

A comprehensive history of Cotton Gin Port, the book's basic structure is a series of chronological chapters focusing on the geography, history, economic and culture of the period. Eminently readable, the text provides interesting maps, drawings and pictures.

Well-suited for students and scholars who want to delve deeply into the history of the area, Cotton Gin Port: A Frontier Settlement on the Upper Tombigbee is also an excellent choice for the casual reader because this book both inspires and brings to life once more the distant past. Easy to read, and not too long, I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

The cost of the book is $25 and can be purchased from the Amory Regional Museum in Amory at (662) 256-2761 or the Old Capitol Museum Book Store in Jackson at (601) 576-6921.


James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi